CULTURE STOPS.

Exhibit shows diversity of David Smith

December 23, 2001|By Michael Kilian, Tribune staff reporter.

The American artist David Smith (1906-1965) is remembered mostly for his intense metal sculpture, but his virtuosity extended to paintings and drawings, among other media, as well. A new exhibition at New York's National Academy of Design Museum, "David Smith: Two into Three Dimensions," reveals the depth and breadth of his multi-faceted talent, in some chillingly relevant ways. A 1938 drawing called "Death by Gas"--a ruined landscape peopled by frantic naked figures carrying oversized gas mask filters--puts one in mind of Picasso's "Guernica" and some of the World War I anti-war art of the German Expressionists. But, given Sept. 11, it seems hauntingly pertinent to our terrorism-plagued time. Another study shows us Eve being fed an apple by a grotesque modern machine. This remarkable show, on view through Jan. 6, presents more than 100 paintings, sculptures and works on paper from the 1930s through 1960s. The museum is located at 1083 5th Ave. Telephone is 212-369-4880. On the Internet, it's at www.nationalacademy.org.

Christmas, Hanukkah

Just down the street at Fifth Avenue and 80th Street, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art this holiday season has on display not only its famous Christmas tree and Neapolitan Baroque creche, with angels, cherubs and lifelike creche figures, but for the first time an elaborately decorated menorah, believed to have been crafted in 18th Century Poland, as a symbol of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

All three will remain on view through Jan. 6. For more information, call 212-535-7710. On the Web, it's at www.metmuseum.org.